Mecha Anime Before The 80s

When most people think of mecha anime, they usually picture hot-blooded teenagers in colorful spandex piloting large robots comprised of rocket-powered vehicles. The sub-genre of mecha was the first anime to gain international appeal, but it all began in 1963 thanks to Osamu Tezuka, otherwise known as The God Of Manga. Tezuka created a manga that ran for 16 years titled Mighty Atom, or Astro Boy as it was called in English about an android modeled after a young lad that would fly around and do normal Silver Age hero stuff, including tangling with robots and monster bigger than him. Mighty Atom was adapted into one of the first serialized anime TV series featuring some amazing character designs for the time.

The first confirmed giant robot anime series came out at the same time called Tetsujin-28 Go that was rebranded as Gigantor in America. The robot in question was originally designed by the Japanese for WWII, but the English version rewrote as taking place at the turn of the century. Tetsujin-28 was controlled by a boy with his radio watch that would battle equally big bots. The creator, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, wrote a similar manga titled Giant Robo that was turned into one of the first live action mecha shows, but out west was called Johnny Sokko And His Giant Robot.

One of the first definitive mecha superheroes was 8 Man by Kazumasa Hirai about the original cyborg crimefighter. An investigator is murdered by gangsters, so a scientist places his mind inside the body of an elite android with super-speed, plus the power to take on the forms of other people including his old human self. The kicker for this was 8 Man powered himself by smoking cigarettes which replenished his energy. Only in the 60s could they make a superhero with the hook of getting children to smoke.

A step up from this was Cyborg 009 where nine people were turned into cyborgs, each with their own unique ability intended to help the criminal organization Black Ghost. 009 and the other cyborgs rebel against their benefactors and become one of the first superhero teams in anime who would regularly tussle with super-powered agents and other technological villains.

A final mecha anime from the 60s was Flying Phantom Ship which was a full-length movie directed by future Nintendo founder Hiroshi Ikeda. This was the first anime film to be dubbed into Russian and had none other than Hayao Miyazaki working on the mecha designs. This short film had a humongous robot named Golem attacking a city as a weapon of mass destruction.

Once the 70s started, Tatsunoko Productions started one of the longest running anime franchises, Gatchaman, which was picked up in America by the notorious Sandy Frank who labeled it Battle Of The Planets, and was rebranded twice onwards as G-Force and then Eagle Riders. The series had a team of five teenagers with attitudes (sound familiar?) that wore bird-themed superhero outfits and used their high-tech vehicles to fight colossal mechs dispatched by the evil organization Galactor determined to rule the world. This was one the first anime to feature gritty character designs and genuine character depth, as well as young heroes putting their lives on the line for the sake of peace and willing to kill to achieve it.

Following this was the dawn of what became called the era of Super Robots. These were big bots piloted by a single daredevil sporting a silly helmet who were the only ones capable of operating the battle machine. This eventually gave way to having a team of multiple young fighters piloting a giant robot, some of which were comprised of several smaller vehicles. One of the first anime of which was Astroganger about a towering robot built to protect Earth from aliens. The downside to Astroganger was that it was an incredibly dumb robot, so a ten-year old is given the great responsibility to make sure that it didn’t trip over its own giant feet.

The show that really put Super Robots on the map was Mazinger Z created by gag manga writer Go Nagai. Here, a giant robot made of a special alloy by an eccentric scientist who died leaving control over it to his reckless biker grandson Koji to counter the devious Dr. Hell who had an entire army of mechanical monsters. Mazinger Z had some of the first toy merchandise featuring the heroic robot along with its adversaries. Following this was a sequel series titled Great Mazinger with an even more powerful mecha that would clash with monsters called the Battle Beasts. There was also a spinoff called Grendizer about a robot using a huge flying saucer to travel around in.

Another mecha show by Go Nagai was Getter Robo which is known as one of the first combined robots where a giant robot was really a trio of aircraft. Depending on which configuration was used to assemble the robot, it could take on three separate forms, each with their own particular abilities. The three pilots were all spirited young men who weekly took on the sinister forces of the Dinosaur Empire. Getter Robo would even crossover with both Mazingers in a special theatrical release, plus there was a sequel titled Getter Robo G.

Brave Raideen pioneered the transforming robot craze which marketed it as one of the biggest gimmicks in anime. In it, the Demon Empire awakens after centuries of slumber to conquer the world, and the only one who can stop them is Akira, the last surviving member of an ancient race who takes control of a robot that was built millennia ago. Raideen could change into a godlike bird, making it a first long before Transformers.

Robotic superheroes weren’t absent from the 70s as the character of Tekkaman was a space knight who surfed on top of his own transforming robot Pegas which would create an extra set of armor around his own existing suit. Tekkaman saw success later in the 90s in the Tekkaman Blade remake anime.

Dino Mech Gaiking followed this with another tale of aliens invading Earth, and a psychic baseball player is given control of the robot Gaiking which could take on a humanoid form, a dragon, a jet, and two different tanks.

Casshan is another dip in the cyborg superhero waters. This time it’s a human brain put into an android body called Casshern who now sets out to free the world from evil superpowered robots that have dominated mankind. Casshern and his faithful transforming robot dog Friender along with a hot survivor named Luna set out to take down all the enemy androids and free everyone from their maniacal rule.

Captain Harlock creator Leiji Matsumoto got in on the Super Robot craze too with his own series of Dangaurd Ace. Earthlings are looking for a new planet to colonize, and the mysterious tenth planet Promete, but the warlord Doppler has put together his own armada. It’s up to the brave Captain Dan and young Takuma to utilize Earth’s only remaining giant robot to stop Doppler’s forces. This anime also gained a large international fan base thanks to multiple foreign dubs.

Combattler V is one of the most recognized gestalt robots from this era. This was the first of a series dubbed the Robot Romance Trilogy made by Toei Animation which all had giant robots with their own colorful pilots. In Combattler V, a group called the Battle Team unite their vehicles to form a giant weapon used to protect Earth from the alien Campbell Empire and their devastating robot beasts.

The next chapter in the Robot Romance Trilogy was Voltes V, a super electromagnetic robot whose anime gained major international popularity. The evil aliens from the planet Boazan send their Beasts Knights to of course conquer the world. A scientist assembles the Voltes Team to man their big mecha and defends not only our world but liberate the aliens’ planet as well. The Boazanian Prince Heinel was given significantly more character development as a protagonist that female fans of the show demanded he get a more poetic ending instead of just dying like all other lead anime villains.

Tosho Daimos is the last part of the trilogy by Toei. This has a nobler race of aliens coming to Earth in peace seeking a new place to live, but an assassination caused both sides to declare war. A transforming robot called Daimos which can do karate is driven by Kazuya who pilots it only to try to get a date with a lovely space princess who gets amnesia and is unaware of the war between her people and Earth. There is no specific enemy in this mecha show, but there are parties working on both sides sabotaging any chance of peace.

Rounding out the 70s was the groundbreaking Mobile Suit Gundam from Sunrise which launched the entire Gundam saga. Instead of fighting supervillains or evil aliens, robots were used from two opposing forces in the solar system both stemming from Earth with both sides treating their robots as advanced military hardware to be used in war. The rebellious Zeon was trying to establish their own space empire while the unified Federation tried to maintain peace in this period of war. Most of the main characters are young people who must grow up fast defending their territory as well as their lives while trying to master piloting the tremendous Mobile Suits which is one of the first mechas to come with lightsabers. Zeon is corrupt with the vengeful Char working from within to bring them down, however his efforts form a legendary rivalry with the Gundam pilot Amuro, plus they both form one of the first anime love triangles along with Char’s love Lalah. This also leads into a new evolution in humanity called Newtypes who have the psychic ability to fully coordinate with their space-bound robots in combat.

Most of the mecha anime from the 70s might not have made anyone in America notice if it weren’t for the advent of Shogun Warriors. Mattel teamed up with Japanese toy company Popy to create some of the first diecast metal toys to be released in the US. These included robots and super vehicles from various shows like Getter Robo, Combattler V, and Great Mazinger. Aside from the diecast construction, what really grabbed the attention of toy collectors everywhere was varying sizes from 3.5 inches to a staggering 2 feet tall, making them some of the biggest action figures ever made, even though some of them had loose parts that would’ve been a choking hazard. Mattel even managed to rope Toho into letting them add giant figures of Godzilla and Rodan to their roster, so this one of the few times tokusatsu kaiju were on the same line as anime robots. There was even a Marvel Comics series set in the Marvel Comics universe where three of the mechas could share panels with the Fantastic Four. The Shogun Warriors brand has endured for decades, but with less lethal rocket launching weapons.

Many of these anime titles have eventually been brought over to the States. Some of them were given a new name and broadcast in America like Tranzor Z or the cornucopia that was Force Five. We can thank companies like Discotek Media for finding some of these long-hidden gems and releasing a great number of titles on Blu-Ray and various streaming services, including a few available legitimately on YouTube. If it weren’t for hard boiled mecha such as Getter Robo, we wouldn’t have timeless classics like Transformers or Gurren Lagaan.